Case Study: Lighting Up Duke Energy

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy is the largest electric power holding company in the United States. Duke recently approached DesignShop for assistance in creating their show floor presence at the World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC), held in Orlando, Florida.

Going into its 39th year, the WEEC is recognized as the most important energy event of national and international scope for energy professionals across all areas of the energy field. And being in DesignShop's backyard, we knew we had to do something unique and innovative to make Duke Energy THE show standout.

The Challenge: Create a Low-Energy Lighting Solution That WOWS

The DesignShop Team was tasked with creating a low-energy, light tower solution for Duke Energy's exhibit space - that would be seen from across the show floor. In addition, the light towers would be powered by a self-sufficient, Duke Energy pickup truck.

All of this along with cabinets for storage space needed to fit within a 20' x 40' exhibit space - which just happened to be the largest space in the convention center hall.

The Solution: Create the "Monet" of Light Boxes Using LED Lighting

As Mike Hughes of DesignShop put it, "we used LED Lighting to create the Monet of light boxes".

And Mike wasn't exaggerating - typically light boxes are created utilizing fluorescent light tubes inside of the boxes. This solution was a bit "old school" for what we were looking to achieve and leads to the back-lit graphics having "strips" of lighting illuminating them (or "hot spots").

In order to draw less power and provide a more even solution, DesignShop incorporated LED lighting into each of the four light box towers. And to create a presence that couldn't be missed, we created adjustable height light towers - which were extended to their full height of 16' tall. Needless to say, they couldn't be missed!

And the Duke Energy pickup was easily able to provide the power source for all four boxes, making the entire exhibit completely self-sufficient for its energy needs. In addition to proving that the truck could be a self-sufficient energy source, it was also an environmentally friendly solution. Win-Win.

The Results: An Ecstatic Client and Rave Reviews

Once the show opened in Orlando, Duke Energy's presentation was truly the talk of the show. And while we could write about how successful the exhibit was and put our own spin on the story, maybe it's more meaningful that we use our Client's words.

"The booth was nothing short of spectacular! A success beyond all of our dreams and imaginings: visually, functionally, popularly".

"So many people were in our booth at times that folks stood in line around the entire perimeter waiting for their chance to step in. Once they stepped in they stayed in for 15-20 minutes. Have you ever heard of that amount of time commitment? They were engaged and spoke to multiple booth staff and viewed multiple product demonstrations."

"Top leadership visited and tweeted about their pride in our booth. The association admitted they were wondering what we could possibly be planning and shared it was the greatest exhibit they had ever seen in their 40 year history".

"Words fail to express the success of our exhibit at WEEC. I can’t thank you enough for all of your recommendations and guidance"!

And if that feedback wasn't enough to let us know how well the show went, Duke Energy is now asking us to produce the same exhibit for all of their territories and to add the option for various size configurations!

Like to know how we can light up your trade show program? Give the professionals at DesignShop a shout - we'll show you how innovative trade show design can set your brand on fire!